So i finally saved up and bought my first smart phone a few weeks back(A samsung galaxy s i9000 to be specific). I heard about the game Angry Birdseven before i had a smart phone but never got a chance to play it. The hype about it was very true. The game is addictive :D. Anyhow my objective of this article is not to disseminate news how awesome Angry Birds is, which is quite obvious with the plethora of download rates it is getting, but to write about a few things that crossed my mind whilst playing it.

Plan before execute

When you first start off a chapter, you are shown a glimpse of what obstacles lie ahead. You can then scroll back and forth looking at where the stinky(ok im exaggerating a bit here, but im on the bird's side after all) pigs are situated and how they are protected by the obstacles. So you plan the attack beforehand and launch it. As a developer this is a very interesting point. Sometimes i rush into writing a piece of code. But if i had looked at a few possible obstacles, other possible solutions, i believe most of the time i could have come up with a much better design.

Efficiency in resource utilization

In some instances you get birds with different abilities. Some blow up, speed through, drop bombs, replicate etc. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. Before we launch an attack we see how best to use them and at which point. As a developer, i should know my strengths and weaknesses and apply them accordingly when given a particular task, and look at what i lack and gain knowledge in areas where i lack in order to fill the gap. As a project manager you should know the skills of your resources and utilize them to the tasks at hand efficiently in order to achieve the end goal of delivering a stable product to the customer. Not everyone is good at everything, so identifying your resource pool enables you to make better decisions and improve and refine your resources' knowledge base as you go on.

How to handle the task with minimum effort

When you blow up all the pigs around with a few birds left up you get bonus points. As a developer, when given a task i must strive to see ways in which i could achieve it with minimum effort. This does not mean your a lazy bum, but that you opt to work smarter than harder. You can thereby save up time to do other things like gain knowledge on other new technologies, contribute to some open source project you love etc. In the birds example, you are left with a few birds because you used your targets efficiently. In the same way, if you apply the solution you devised in the correct manner, you will be left with some time to spare(this might depend on your supervisor ofcourse :) )

Go ahead with what works for you

In any level, you have multiple ways of approaching the obstacles. You may try a few options, but in the end you have to go with what works for you in order to send those pigs flying(again exaggeration). As a developer, when designing a particular module/project, there always are many ways in which that can be achieved. But in the end you have to decide on what will work for you and go ahead with it. When presented with many solutions you have to decide on what will work for you and stick to the plan to achieve the end goal. Again as the birds example sometimes the one you chose might not work, so you refine your solution and come up with a successful one in the end.

Perseverance

When you embark on a mission, sometimes you cannot complete it in one shot. You need to keep on trying and eventually you will get there and make the pigs pay. As a developer sometimes i might not be able to come up with a viable solution for the problem at hand. But you should not be discouraged and give up. Breaking the problem into smaller understandable components might let you see things in a new perspective. So keep on trying and eventually you will get there.

Thats it for now guys. Ofcourse im still on level 2-17 at the time of writing this post, so i might learn a few more things as i go on :)...

Thank you for reading and please do leave by your thoughts if you have the time. Have a great day guys!!!

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Im just a regular guy living under God's guidance with a keen interest on J2SE/J2EE technologies. And i really like learning new stuff and sharing things i learn through my work experience with others which is my main objective in creating this blog in the first place.